


Feels Like I've Been Missing You

by fackinglouis



Series: You're My Favorite Song [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-19
Updated: 2013-11-19
Packaged: 2018-01-02 01:11:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fackinglouis/pseuds/fackinglouis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>He feels a bit like a creep and knows that without a doubt, if Louis were to look over and catch him doing this, he'd never hear the end of it. Except he can't really look away and get his books for class now. Not when there's a tall lad with a really cool floppy quiff leaning against one of the lockers next to his boyfriend's, laughing about something Louis just said. And Louis' funny, Harry's the first to admit it, but that doesn't mean you have to lean into his personal bubble and bat at his chest.</em>
</p><p>Or the one where Harry gets a little jealous, but it's also a little more than that too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feels Like I've Been Missing You

All in all, Harry's a pretty easy going lad- or at least he fancies himself one. He's really not one to raise his voice or get overly upset unless there's something really very serious going on. It's probably why he's such a good match for Louis, who starts throwing a fit at the drop of a hat; he's all soothing gestures to his chaotic mess of feelings, like yin and yang.

But right now, as he peeks out from behind the side of his locker door, Harry has no issue with admitting that he's probably being anything _but_ cool. He feels a bit like a creep and knows that without a doubt, if Louis were to look over and catch him doing this, he'd never hear the end of it.

Except he can't really look away and get his books for class now. Not when there's a tall lad with a really cool floppy quiff leaning against one of the lockers next to his boyfriend's, laughing about something Louis just said. And Louis' funny, Harry's the first to admit it, but that doesn't mean you have to lean into his personal bubble and bat at his chest.

"What are you doing?" comes a voice from somewhere behind him and Harry jumps, smacking his forehead against his metal locker door.

"Ugh," he groans pitifully and rubs his forehead, turning around to find Liam. "Nothing. Grabbing my books for class."

Liam nods. "Oh," he says cluelessly. "What lunch do you have to-"

"Who is that?" Harry's already turned his back on Liam and he's peering back over at Louis and the mystery bloke.

Liam, bless him, doesn't seem at all hurt about the interruption. Instead, he follows Harry's gaze and raises his eyebrows in surprise. "You don't know Aiden?"

"No," Harry sulks. "I don't know Aiden. Why would I know Aiden?" Why is Aiden so special, Harry wants to know. Why is it such a surprise that he doesn't know him? He only transferred like... a year ago, geez Liam. He's only human. And most importantly, why is he flirting with his boyfriend?

"He was Lou-" Life hates him apparently, because the bell rings just then and Liam rushes off in a cloud of dust and apologies and perfect attendance. Harry just wants to slam his head into the door repeatedly.

Any head bashing is put on hold, though, since Louis finally pulls his own books from his locker and Harry takes that as his signal to move in like the suave gentleman he is. He always tries to carry Louis' books, no matter how many times Louis complains about it.

Although Harry has a feeling that Louis just does it cause he's unfailingly stubborn and actually likes when Harry carries his things for him.

"Hi, babe," he greets, eyes flickering between Louis who willingly drops his books on top of Harry's (he's probably just tired today, Harry thinks) and the back of Aiden moving away.

But then he looks back to his boyfriend who's smiling up at him with those bright blue eyes and suddenly everything is okay again. He smiles at Louis once more and this time it's real and shy in that droopily smitten way. "Class?"

Louis nods. "Walk me to class," he demands in a sweet way that only Louis can manage. And he can't very well say no, now can he?

-*-*-*-*-

The next time he spots this suspicious Aiden character is when he's sitting with Niall at lunch a couple days after, waiting for Louis to come and occupy the empty seat next to him. And of course he comes strolling in, nodding along to something Aiden's saying to him.

"-the worst and she wouldn't shut up!" Niall's groaning and Harry should probably be listening to what he's saying, but he's not.

"Yeah," Harry murmurs at Niall to appease him, not taking his eyes off of his boyfriend. "Who is that?" Yeah, he already knows who that is, but it doesn't hurt to get another perspective. Just out of curiosity of course.

Niall squints in the direction of Harry's stare, not at all put out about the interruption because he's that kind of guy and Harry loves him for it. "Oh, that's Aiden. He's a good mate," Niall tells him nonchalantly.

And then he adds, "You've never met Aiden?"

And no, Harry has obviously never met Aiden! Why is it such a big deal that he's not met this tall quiffed boy who's always lurking over Louis? What is it about Aiden that everybody's so keen on anyway, Harry would sure like to know.

"No. I've never met Aiden," Harry sulks into his shiny red apple.

"Oh," Niall shrugs. "They're partnered together for a physics project so they're probably just talking about that." That only satisfies about a fourth of Harry's curiosities, but Niall turns back to his lunch and Louis is flopping down into the chair beside him, dropping a hand down onto his knee immediately.

"Hello, dear," he chirps, smiling like a ray of sunshine. Harry thinks that Louis is his own personal sunshine, bright and warm and all encompassing through any clouds. Harry also thinks he probably- no, definitely loves him, but that's something for another time.

Harry smiles stupidly and takes another bite of his apple, chewing fondly because with Louis around that's a thing. "I made you a new playlist last night," he announces and reaches down to dig around in his satchel type bag; Louis' dubbed it a man purse.

"Here you go," he slides the cd over in a plain case marked with big bold lettering spelling out _To Lou xx ps please listen to this one and not throw it out again xxxxx_ with a big, messy heart underneath.

Louis rolls his eyes, flicking his hair to the side with nimble fingers. "I didn't throw away your other mix, you loser." Harry'd be offended, but he can see the way the corner of his pink lips are twitching like they're holding back a smile.

"I found it in your rubbish bin."

Louis takes the case delicately by the very corner as if he's prone to concocting a fatal disease by handling it and drops it into his backpack. "It fell in there all on it's own, Harold," he tells him, carefully disinterested.

It's all a front, Harry knows. Louis still likes to tell him he hates him as much as he tells him he likes him twelve months in, almost nine of which have been spent in a relationship. But with every glare or biting word, he gets a kiss now to soothe it over. So he's cool with it.

"One of these days you'll listen to my mixes," Harry tells him, leaning back in his chair and throwing an arm over the back of Louis'.

"Listening and enjoying are two different things," Louis sings back with a sugary sweet purse of his lips. "But if it really means that much to you, I'll listen to it when I get home."

He won't. Harry smiles anyway, hooking two fingers over his bottom lip.

"At the very least I can use it when watching the twins. As punishment. The soundtrack of the naughty corner. I can guarantee you, they'll stop their fits real quick."

-*-*-*-*-

The Aiden Situation (with capitals now because its become a _thing_ ) doesn't cross Harry's mind again until Friday when he passes by Louis' locker only to see Aiden leaning beside it. And he really doesn't want to be _that_ boyfriend, because nobody is cooler than Harry Styles, but since when does anybody wait by Louis' locker except Harry and sometimes Zayn?

Aiden looks up at that precise moment and Harry's forced to make awkward eye contact with the boy. So of course Harry nods his head at him and not in the polite hello way, but the awkward wassup way. It's really supposed to be in the _hi why are you following my boyfriend around_ way, but he's not quite mastered the art of head nods yet.

Aiden looks at him a little weirdly, but Harry has no time to care because he turns around and spots Zayn coming around the corner.

Zayn is great. Harry's almost one hundred percent positive that if it weren't for Zayn, he'd be dead right now. Harry basically owes his whole life to Zayn because Zayn is Louis' best mate and he _always_ knows what Harry did wrong and is always there to tell Harry how to fix it.

Like that one time Harry told Louis to calm down after his favorite contestant on the X-factor had been voted off and Louis kicked him in the shins and then pushed him out of the house. It was Zayn who had calmly explained to Harry that 'calm down' were two words that should never be uttered together in Louis' presence and it was Zayn who coaxed Louis into letting him back in the house to at least grab his shoes.

Or that time Harry thought that it'd be funny to hold his back straight whenever Louis tried to pull him down into a kiss and Louis stomped on his foot and refused to kiss him for three days. Apparently Louis' height, or lack thereof, was a sensitive topic according to Zayn. Now, the only place Harry refers to Louis as 'pint-sized' is in his mind and everybody is just generally happier.

"Zayn!" Harry calls, waving his hand in the air to grab his attention. Zayn's a cool guy. He always manages to look disinterested with everything going on around him, even when Louis is screaming in his face or when he's recounting in gory detail what they did together last night, and Harry respects him for it. "Hey, man," Harry greets when Zayn walks to him.

Zayn nods his greeting and yeah, he's the one who has the head nod mastered unlike Harry. "Uhh, I've got a question for you." Zayn nods again, shifting around the few books he has in his arms, tucking a cigarette behind his ear. Harry thinks Zayn is one of those guys who are effortlessly cool, not the type of cool Louis thinks Harry is- the type where he works to be the type of cool where it looks like he just is and he doesn't have to try.

"So," Harry drags out the syllable, leaning closer and squinting his eyes up. "Just curious, but who is Aiden?"

Zayn scratches his temple, completely silent, looking Harry over like he knows exactly why he's asking. "You don't know who Aiden is?" Is what he ends up saying and Harry could nearly explode. Or fall to the ground in frustration, whichever comes first.

"No! Why does everybody seem so surprised by the fact?"

"Soz, bro. If you don't know who Aiden is then I'm pretty sure that I shouldn't be the one to tell you. Talk to Lou, yeah?" And with that, he's off trekking down the hallway that Harry is almost certain doesn't lead to any of his classes.

-*-*-*-*-

The bell's just rung it's last time for the day, releasing all of the students for whatever the weekend holds in store. The hallway is loud like it always is, but it's emptying out with every passing second as teenagers scramble to start their fun as soon as possible. Harry stays where he is, though, rummaging through his locker and waiting for Louis to show up and hopefully ask if he wants to do something.

Harry's crossing his fingers for a quiet night in so he has an excuse to hold a sleepy, soft Louis to his chest, but truth be told, he'd be happy with anything Louis wants to do. Even if it's watching old reruns of One Tree Hill with him for the millionth time.

He's in his happy little daydream Louis land when his locker slams violently shut right in front of him so hard that it shakes and he jumps, dropping the book he was pulling out. "Holy shit!"

Louis stands there, arms crossed against his chest and lips set in a way that Harry reads loud and clear as trouble. "Hi, babe," he greets uncertainly and watches as Louis tips his chin up.

"If you want to know something about me," Louis starts, eyes hard and icy blue. "Then you come to me. You don't go to Zayn and gossip behind my back." His little button nose twitches and Harry thinks Louis resemblance to a grumpy kitten right now is uncanny, but he keeps that to himself since he values his life.

"Wait? What? I didn't even talk about you! I asked about Aiden!" He should've known Zayn was going to mention it to Louis.

Louis steps closer. "Why were you asking about Aiden then?" he demands.

"Because I don't know who Aiden is! And nobody will tell me! And apparently that is a big deal." That stops Louis in his tracks and he peers up at him curiously.

"You don't know who Aiden is?"

Harry could quite literally bang his head into his locker until he loses consciousness. "No!" he exclaims on the verge of whining, arms flailing out exasperatedly in front of him. "Why should I? Who is Aiden!?"

Louis steps back then, the angry look wiped completely from his face and he's shrugging. "Nobody," he says and Harry knows without a doubt that Louis isn't telling him something which makes his stomach drop right out of his body.

"He's obviously somebody," Harry retorts, fingering the frayed bracelets around his wrist. Louis looks ready to deny it again so he's quick to add, "You all wouldn't be surprised that I didn't know him if he wasn't. And Zayn said I had to ask you."

Louis shrugs again and scuffs his vans against the tiled floor, feigning the picture of indifference. "Aiden.. he doesn't mean anything to me, Harry. We dated for a quick bit and then parted ways. It's really not as big of a deal as you're making it out to be."

"How long did you date?" Harry asks because it's not like he has any reason to be feeling like this, twitchy and clammy. Harry's dated his fair share of blokes and birds before he decided that Louis was the boy for him and he'd never believe anybody who told him that he was Louis' first boyfriend. So, yeah, he's always kind of known that Louis dated other people, just like he knows that his sister probably isn't a virgin anymore- it's one of those thoughts in the back of his mind that he'd rather ignore and pretend doesn't exist.

Louis rubs his chin as if this question has got him deep in thought, "Six.. maybe seven," he finally says. "At least five."

Harry waits a couple seconds until he's absolutely sure Louis' not going to finish before asking, "What, Louis? Minutes? Days? Weeks?"

Louis shrugs once. "Months? I don't know, it was so long ago."

"Louis!"

"Ugh," Louis groans, flapping his hands around in front of Harry's face. "This is obviously why I didn't tell you. You're getting all.. antsy. It's annoying. Stop that." He keeps up his irritated facade for a moment more before rolling his eyes at the frown pulling Harry's lips down.

"Alright, look," he sighs, shuffling close enough that Harry can hook his fingers through his belt loops and hold him steady. "That was _two years ago_. It's _this_ year now. New Years ring a bell?" Louis teases and yeah, it definitely does. Harry's not likely to ever forget their first kiss at midnight and he smiles dopily down at Louis who returns the gesture whole heartedly, eyes crinkling adorably at the corners. "If I had any interest in still dating Aiden, I'd be dating Aiden. But I'm not because you're, Lord help me, my boyfriend," he says, eyes soft and sincere and sweet. Louis' sweet.

Harry _loves_ Louis.

But then, of course, because it's Louis: "Twatty clothes and all."

"Hey," Harry frowns down at his jeans with duct tape over the knees and figures Louis at least has some grounds for that one. But these jeans are cool so Harry laughs along with his boyfriend, pulling him closer by his belt loop. "Do you want to get out of here?" he asks, lips nudging against his temple and Louis nods his answer, muttering an affectionate _Stupid Harry Styles_ under his breath.

Later, Harry laughs again. This time it's at his own expense because he's not got anything to worry about and that's obvious now with a sleepy, soft Louis curled up over him on the couch. He's warm and cozy, lips falling open just slightly and dark eyelashes fanning over smooth cheeks. Harry's got a hand up his shirt just to rest against his ribs and feel the way his chest rises and falls slowly with his calm breathing. His heart is full with a lot of love in that precious little moment and he knows that it's a special sort of privilege to see Bright and Boisterous Louis 'The Tommo' Tomlinson all laid out and vulnerable in a way that only sleep can bring.

He smoothes down his bed head, pulling the hair tight against his scalp and smiling at the silliness of it all before letting it go again to it's normal volume. His leg is kind of asleep and he sort of has to use the loo, but none of that matters when he's got a lapful of Louis. Louis does some sort of snuffling snore thing and curls his hand tighter in Harry's shirt and Harry wants to pick him up and put him in his bag to carry him around for whenever he's in need of a smile.

Harry loves Louis a _lot_ , but he saves that for a later date.

-*-*-*-*-

The Thing becomes less of a Thing after that which Harry appreciates very much. As much as Louis rolls his eyes at Harry's worries, he also makes it a point to give him a big greeting kiss in the hallway whenever he walks away from Aiden.

Jealousy was never a good look on Harry anyway so he's not too torn up about the fact of it.

Except, like, they're in school with a bunch of drama hungry teenagers and people are talking and spreading rumors and everybody is more concerned about whether Louis and Aiden are together again than they are about their homework.

Harry's sitting in class when the girl in the desk besides him leans over and asks whether Louis and Aiden are together again. The face Harry makes is probably entirely uncool but he can't really be held accountable for that. "What? Of course not. No. Louis' still my boyfriend."

She nods in understanding and stares at him for a moment longer before returning to the worksheet in front of her. Harry purses his lips and shakes his head. People are just dumb, silly people. This is so not a big deal. If it were a big deal, Harry would be freaking out and he's so not.

"You know that Louis and I are still dating, don't you?" he asks Nick later while they're hanging out doing nothing in his room. Nick's a good mate of his and Harry knows that he'd never lie to him so he's anxious for his insight and ancient wisdom.

"No kidding, really?" Nick's jaw drops. "I could've sworn you hated the lad," he deadpans, nodding towards the multitude of pictures Harry has taped over his desk of Louis and him. Harry spends a lot of time and care on that wall, making sure he has a picture of almost every single date and event they spend together.

He knows that when he's old and gray he'll want to remember the good ol' days and these days with Louis are definitely the good ol' days.

(Harry really likes the one that sits smack dab in the middle: a blurry shot of a drunken Louis hanging off of a slightly less drunken, but not by much, Harry at Louis' birthday party last year. Their cheeks are pressed together, Harry leaning over Louis to fit, both rosy and with smiles so big they've almost got their molars on display. He loves it to pieces.)

"Why?" Nick asks not too long after, always too gossip hungry for his own good. Harry rolls over on his bed and pushes himself up onto his elbows. Even Nick's hair is drooping with curiosity.

"This girl at school thought that Louis and Aiden were dating."

"Who is Aiden?"

"Exactly!" Harry exclaims, falling back against the bed with a soft thud. "Who the fuck is Aiden! Thank you. I knew I could count on you to understand." And this is why he's still good mates with Nick. Even though he picks fights with Louis on purpose and leaves his room smelling like cancerous smoke.

Nick snorts and stands up from the desk chair. "You do know that I genuinely don't know who this Aiden guy is because I don't go to your school, right?"

Harry lets out a long breath of air, kicking his feet up and letting them fall back down when he inhales again. "Aiden," he says cautiously. He's not very fond of that name. "Was- _is_ Louis' ex. And Lou is over his house cause they've got a-" Harry sticks up two fingers from each hand, carefully executing his finger quotes. "Physics project. A tad sketchy if you ask me."

"Oh shit, Haz," Nick shakes his head sadly. "You're right. They're probably fucking right now-"

Harry groans and drops his head back. He takes back everything remotely nice he's ever said about Nick. He's a horrible friend, the absolute worst.

"If I were you, I'd get over there and catch them in the act. They're probably naked right now. All naked together."

Harry pegs one of his pillows at him, squeezing his eyes closed tight against that ghastly mental image forced upon him. "Oh god," Harry whines. Nick laughs so hard he almost cries.

-*-*-*-*-

They haven't used the 'L' word yet, is the thing. And it partly scares Harry because they've been dating the better part of a year and surely it's acceptable, right? Harry knows without a doubt that he's in love with Louis, head over heels, completely and totally gone for him. It's at the point that he'd hide a body for him and still think he's the nicest boy in the world.

And he's almost sure that Louis feels the same way about him. Maybe sans the whole dead body thing.

But Louis' not good with talking about his feelings and would rather tell Harry he hates him than he loves him. Which is fine, Harry can roll with the punches, both literally and figuratively (Louis can pack quite a punch for how much Harry likes to coo over how small he is). Though lately it's been killing him.

And now with this whole 'situation', Harry just wants to sit Louis down and tell him that he loves him with his whole heart and he'd rather him stop doing things that caused him heart pains and sleepless nights. He'd like to tell him very politely that he is in love with him and it'd be very nice if Louis could be in love back.

It'd help a lot if every time Louis kissed him after talking to Aiden he added a little 'love you' to emphasize his feelings. Harry's almost decided that it's time for his big declaration, but he has to deal with the Aiden Situation on hand first. So he texts the only person he knows can help him right now.

-*-*-*-*-

Zayn only agreed to come after Harry promised to pay for everything, but he still counts it as a win. He's a very hard person to come into contact with when you don't have Louis by your side, Harry's learned. He had to call him four times and leave him a voicemail and several very urgent text messages before Zayn responded with a one worded ' _what_ '.

It was easier to convince him to meet at the bakery after Harry told him it was about Louis and now he's been watching Zayn in silence for almost six minutes.  
Harry taps his fingers against his lips, hands folded together and eyes narrowed to make it look like he's scrutinizing Zayn when really he's just trying to figure out how to bring the Aiden Situation up.

"Harry," Zayn starts, tired of waiting, and Harry drops his hands against the table, shaking his head slowly. There's no point in hiding from Zayn of all people, it's a lost cause.

"I'm losing him, Zayn! I can feel it. Every time I want to hang out, him and Aiden are working on this alleged 'project-" Harry shouts, shooting up some of those air quotes.

"-Not alleged," Zayn interjects.

"And Aiden is tall and Louis likes tall guys. They're his type."

"You're taller than him, mate," Zayn cuts in, but nothing can stop Harry from falling into his pit of despair. Hes really not one for dramatics; he leaves that to Louis usually, but Louis makes him crazy.

"What if Louis finds out he really loves physics and runs off to study science in uni! Far away in another uni with another boy like Aiden," Harry turns sullen for a moment, his hysterics dropping drastically into something dull. "And- and I can't stop that, Louis going off at the end of the year. He'll be off with other physicists and I could be somewhere else studying something that's not even close to physics."

"I'm getting this weird feeling that your issue isn't really about Aiden," Zayn muses gently. Harry rolls his eyes. Of course it's about Aiden, it's not dubbed the 'Aiden Situation' for nothing.

Zayn doesn't get it at all.

"I don't know," Harry sulks and swirls his mug of tea around in his hands. He doesn't even really like tea, just drinks it because Louis' often around to steal gulps from his cups and he likes the smile Louis gets when he realizes he just drank his favorite type of tea. And goddamnit, if Harry's not so screwed, drinking tea he doesn't even like for a boy that could be gone before he knows it.

Then where does that leave him? Still drinking the tea, but without any hope of Louis drinking it as well? It's a weird analogy, yeah, but Harry sighs deeply all the same.

"Maybe you should talk to him?" Zayn prompts easily as if it's such a simple solution.

Harry's not really sure how that would go. He can't even tell Louis he loves him much less tell him that he's going insane thinking about having to separate in a couple months. How is he supposed to tell him that he's looked at schools all over the country, hoping at least one of them will align with Louis' choices?

"Yeah," Harry mumbles around a mouthful of bitter tea. "Yeah, thanks pal."

Zayn's quiet in his chair across the table, sitting and staring at Harry and the way his bony fingers are twitching around the warm handle of his cup. Harry figures he probably knows where Louis is looking at for school since Louis tells him absolutely everything without hesitation. He'd be jealous, but he knows he and Louis have something different, something that can't be compared to a friendship.

(Plus, Harry got over his jealousy pretty quickly after he spent a week pouting around a month in and Louis told him more or less that it wasn't going to change and that was that.)

His ringtone startles them both out of their silence and Harry scrambles to pull his phone from his pocket, knowing better than to keep Louis waiting. "Hey babe."

"Hey, where are you? I'm just finishing up at Aiden's and I was wondering if you wanted to pick me up? I'm kind of in the mood to bake something and become a master chef. Aiden's had the telly on all day to this stupid baking show," Louis rattles off, probably never breathing in between sentences and Harry smiles.

"Nothing, just grabbing coffee with Zayn, but yeah, I'll come get you," Harry tells him and nods at Zayn when the other boy stands up from the table, grabbing a cigarette from behind his ear. He somehow always has a cigarette behind his ear, probably wakes up with one there and Harry is in awe of how cool Zayn is.

"Why are you with Zayn? Hey, were you guys talking about me? Since when has you and Z hanging out been a thing? It shouldn't be."

Harry catches an eye roll before Zayn turns around and strolls through the door and knows he must have his volume turned all the way up again (Louis likes to turn it up so he can hear all of Harry's phone calls when he's with him). Either that or Louis' just speaking very loudly. Both are equally plausible.

"Don't worry about it, yeah? How about I come whisk you away from physics and we can bake whatever you'd like." He knows he's going to end up baking everything as Louis sits on the counter and watches, yelling and throwing stuff at him as he works. He'll even end up watching on fondly as Louis tells everybody that'll listen that he's baked whatever treat all by himself and Harry's fine with it. "I've got to talk to you anyway."

For the first time, the line stays quiet. The only thing that comes through at first is Louis' breathing and then a muffled click of a door like Louis just shut himself away in a different room for the conversation. "Oh?" is all he manages.

Harry pushes through the glass door, bell tinkling happily, and shakes his head. "It's nothing bad, not really. Well, it depends on how you take it. I'm hoping for a good reaction, though, so I'm staying optimistic."

"Oh," Louis breathes through the phone, only sounding a teensy bit more relieved and Harry frowns. He hopes Louis' not upset, he hates it when Louis' upset. "Sure. I'm ready whenever you want to come get me."

"Okay. Be there soon, Lou."

"Bye, H."

-*-*-*-*-

When Harry pulls up in front of Aiden's house, Louis' already pulling open the front door and stepping out onto the stoop that's surrounded in cute little flower pots. Aiden holds open the screen door for him and is saying something Harry can't make out from his spot. It must be nice because Louis smiles weakly and loops his arms around Aiden's neck for a quick hug.

Aiden pats his waist for a moment and Harry chews on his tongue. There's something about the way his big hand holds Louis carefully and the way Louis rubs his shoulder after he steps back from their hug. They're practiced movements, instinctive habit after months of dating and he'd be a fool not to see the history between the two.

His throat itches, torturing himself by thinking of a time when those were commonplace and probably much more intimate. Harry's not the only one to know how Louis likes to be held and that makes him kind of queasy.

Aiden stoops down to wave at Harry once before disappearing back inside to do whatever boyfriend stealers do nowadays. Louis settles in beside him and turns his body to face Harry completely, leveling him with a stare that could bring cities down to dust. "What did you want to talk about?" Louis prompts, twirling his finger around a loose string from where his trousers are rolled up at the ankle.

That's another thing that Harry loves- Louis' ankles. Sure, it sounds weird, but they're so cute and little and Harry can wrap his finger and thumb around one and have extra room. He tested it once when Louis fell asleep in the middle of studying.

"Can we wait until we get home? I can't talk and drive, it's distracting." Harry starts his car, already scrolling through his playlists before Louis can make a move and try to yank the cord from his iPod like he usually does. He selects the one named 'LOU' followed by a million different emojis of monkeys and hearts and Christmas trees.

"Put on your seatbelt, please," Harry tells him distractedly, fiddling with shuffle and the volume.

Louis just huffs and tugs his belt across his chest, reluctantly turning back around in his seat. "Can I at least have a hint?"

"It's really not that exciting," Harry shrugs. Louis huffs again, louder this time, rests his forehead against the glass of his window, and blows the fringe out of his eyes. He's not got his glasses on and it's the weekend which means he probably doesn't have his contacts in either since he 'doesn't like to put any effort in to his eyesight unless he's forced to' (a direct quote from the ray of sunshine himself).

"Where are your glasses?" Harry asks over some sappy love song about blue eyes he found last year. It reminds him a lot about Louis and Louis knows that which is why he hasn't done anything to screw with the playlist just yet.

"You sound like my mum," Louis yawns and pushes himself away from the window to lean the other way towards Harry. The rest of the drive is relatively quiet- they only have one little squabble when Louis, the little sneak, tries to make a grab for the iPod and change the song. Harry's too fast for him and hides it in the door handle before his greedy hands can get to it.

(The first time Louis tried to steal his iPod, Harry had dropped it between his legs. He had learned his lesson quickly once Louis' still went after it, no shame whatsoever. Harry had almost killed them by swerving into oncoming traffic.)

As soon as they're through the front door, Louis rounds on Harry and backs him against the wall, doorknob digging uncomfortably into his side. "What's the matter?" Louis demands.

Harry licks his lips and clears his throat, jangling the keys between his fingers. He's not exactly certain how to approach something like this. Right in for the kill or should he ease his way into telling his boyfriend that he sometimes can't sleep because he's so worried about what might happen next year?

Louis narrows his eyes and takes a step back. "Are you mad at me?"

Harry blanches, dropping his keys in his rush to reach for Louis. "No, no no no no, of course not. It's not you, it's me, I promise," he coos and then realizes what he said when Louis jerks away.

He's never claimed to be eloquent.

"Harry! Why do you sound like you're breaking up with me?!" Louis' eyes are wide and frantic and he'd look sort of cute if he weren't near panic.

"No," he groans, "I didn't mean it like that. I actually meant that what I wanted to talk to you didn't have to do with anything you've done. It's not you, it's me, but not in a breaking up way. Never in a breaking up way." Never in a breaking up way.

Louis doesn't look comforted by his ramblings and Harry feels like a gigantic idiot. "Kind of the opposite actually, funny that. I just- it's really all Aiden's fault."

Louis throws his hands up in the air and rolls his eyes sharply. "I thought we went over this, Harry. What is your issue with Aiden? Have _you_ got a crush on him? He does have some of the best cardigans I've ever seen."

"What? No. I was thinking more along the lines of his crush on you and-"

"He hasn't got a crush on me. We broke up, remember? That's why I'm here right now? In my boyfriend's house?" Louis snaps, jabbing out a finger at Harry and sounding out the word 'boyfriend' slowly.

"Okay, yeah, but it's not just Aiden! It's like- the other people that could fancy you too." None of this is coming out how he wants it to, Harry realizes that, and he can see the frustration welling up under Louis' skin.

"What are you talking about?" Louis asks exasperatedly, waving his hands around in front of him.

Harry shakes his head and rushes past Louis into the kitchen, he needs a glass of water and a moment to collect his thoughts. Louis comes stomping in behind him and crosses his arms over his chest. "You can't just walk away from me, you prat."

"Where are you looking for uni?" Harry hedges seemingly out of nowhere, opening the door of his fridge and almost hiding behind it. He ducks his head into the shelves and makes no move to grab the bottle of water right in front of his nose.

"Is that what this is about? School?" Louis asks, peeking over the top of the door and scoffing when he spies Harry's crouched position. "I don't know, London? Somewhere new, but not across the world. Somewhere exciting."

Harry smiles. He likes London.

"What is going on?" Louis continues, never satisfied until he has all the pieces of the puzzle together. Harry usually likes that about him. "Are you planning on going somewhere far away? To the states?" he asks, quieter this time.

Harry looks up to meet Louis' eyes for the first time and shakes his head. "No, I don't want to go too far from home."

There's a hint of a smile on his face when he says, "Good. That's good." Harry stands up again, facing Louis with the bottom half of his refrigerator door between them and he smiles.

But then Louis shakes his head and frowns again and Harry remembers they're supposed to be in the middle of a pseudo fight right now, duh. No smiles allowed. "So what is your issue again?"

Harry takes a moment to remember where he left off and sighs. "Okay, so school's going by pretty fast this year and before we know it, we're going to graduate and then it's uni and who knows? We could be far away and there are going to be a ton of other blokes, like Aiden, who are going to find you aesthetically pleasing and woo you, obviously. And what am I supposed to do about that? Just sit here and be okay with that? Because I _can't_ be-"

"Harry!" Louis cuts in, flustered and looking a bit dazed, like he's still trying to understand everything that Harry just spit at him. "Graduation is months away."

Harry's heart sinks a little because that sounds awfully like a dismissal, but he keeps trying anyway. He did it once with Louis when first asking him out, he can do it again. Perseverence and persistence, he reminds himself. "I know, but. What if we do end up wanting schools that have oceans in between them?"

"We'll learn how to swim," Louis shrugs.

"I'm being serious, Louis," Harry scowls.

"So am I."

Louis pulls Harry from behind the door and closes it with a bump of his hip, the muffled sound of glass bottles clanging together sounding from inside. Harry watches on as Louis takes his big palms in his little ones and turns them over. "Harry, listen, I..." he trails off.

Harry's holding his breath for the finish of that sentence, fearing which way the scale is going to tip- good or bad.

"I don't really know what's going to happen after the next summer. And to be honest, I haven't really put much thought into it because I'm focusing on right now, with you," Louis closes his hands around his and locks eyes with Harry, big, sincere blues staring right through him. "What I do know is that it'd be really awesome if we went somewhere close, though."

Louis scrapes his bottom lip between his sharp, pearly teeth for a second before continuing, knocking their knees together as he shuffles closer. "But if we didn't... If we didn't, then I'd still want to do this. Us, I mean. Because you're my boyfriend and I don't care for that to change."

Harry swallows around the lump in his throat. "Not even for Aiden and all the dumb, hot uni boys?"

His stupid smile grows tenfold when Louis shakes his head and bumps his nose into the underside of Harry's jaw. And before he has a chance to stop it, with his heart jumping out of his chest, "You totally love me."

Louis freezes, coughs a bit, and then slowly pulls away from Harry to look at him. He bears a striking resemblance to the Louis of nine months earlier, the Louis from New Years Eve and the Louis from their first kiss. "No," he starts indignantly, but his blush is giving him away and his eyes are sparkling more than that time Harry asked him to Junior Prom in front of the entire lunch room. Harry can hardly contain his happiness.

"Well, I love you too." It's a lot, but at the same time it's simple- not really a surprise to either of them. It doesn't take away from any of the excitement, though, as Louis casually shrugs and pulls Harry down roughly by his collar to kiss his stupid snickering quiet.

Louis stops right before their lips meet. "I don't want to think about that- about the future and what's going to happen to us, though. I love you and that's enough for right now, isn't it?"

Harry presses his fingertips into the sides of Louis' hips and holds tightly. "More than enough," he breathes against Louis' flushed cheek.

"So let's not worry about that until we have to. Not until after prom, promise?" Louis doesn't give him a choice as he pulls a hand off his hip to lace their pinkies together in a serious commitment.

Harry just nods, pulling Louis the final centimeters to his lips.

He still doesn't really know where to look for school or what's going to happen when they make all those big scary adult decisions after, but he feels a little better about starting now.

And of course it's not all sorted out, not at all. They've still got tons to talk about, but Harry thinks that he can handle it when he comes to it now that he's got Louis beside him- for real, in love, this time.

But then again, everything is easier said than done.

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously there will be another part to this one day, hopefully soon, since I'm a sucker for nice, neat happy endings. Also, sorry for any grammar mistakes or spelling issues, I didn't have a beta or anything on this. The title is also from Love is Easy by McFly which is a rad tune so check it out if you'd like!  
> Also, this was my first time writing Harry's POV so i'm a bit worried so ignore some character flaws for me please. 
> 
> [This is my tumblr!](http://www.fackinglouis.tumblr.com)


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